Changing Profile of Spies on America

"Since the end of the Cold War in 1991,... characteristics of American
spies have changed," according to a new Defense Department study of
Americans who commit espionage.

"Americans who began spying during the 1990s have been older, with a
median age of 39, and more demographically heterogeneous, with more
women and more ethnic minorities," the study found. During the Cold
War, by comparison, most American spies were white males younger than
30.

The new spies also tend to be civilian rather than military, are more
likely to volunteer than to be recruited, are more likely to be
naturalized citizens, and are more likely to have foreign
attachments.

In one finding with particular relevance for security policy, the
report stated that "Very few people apply for access to classified
information intending to commit espionage." It follows that "optimal
use of personnel security resources for countering espionage would
focus more on periodic reevaluation and continuing assessment of
experienced cleared personnel," rather than intensive focus on new
applicants.

The new study, dated July 2002 and released this week by the Defense
Personnel Security Research Center in Monterey, California, is based
on an open source analysis of 150 cases of espionage against the
United States committed since 1947.

"Unfortunately for the student of espionage, government records
include more cases of espionage than are described here, but access
to these is classified and restricted to the relatively small,
cleared community," the report states.

A copy of the report, "Espionage Against the United States by American
Citizens 1947-2001" by Katherine L. Herbig and Martin F. Wiskoff, is
available here: